Colorants have a wide variety of uses in various applications, including, for example, the coloring of certain antiseptic solutions. In such applications, it is often necessary to provide a precise and uniform colorant content in the colored product (for example, by reducing precipitation of colorant and/or release variability thereof). It is also often necessary to protect colorant from degradation (for example, when subjecting a product to sterilization procedures). In addition, it is also sometimes necessary to detect counterfeit products, confirm API quality and/or potency, confirm sterility, detect thermal stress, and/or detect impurities in such products. There is thus a need in the art for efficient and effective means for obtaining these effects.